362 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



nurserymen's catalogues in the present day seldom 

 contain lists of varieties of named Petunias. In 

 order to obtain cuttings, the best method is to keep 

 a few plants through the winter in an ordinary 

 green-house ; and if these are put into a gentle heat 

 in the month of February, thej' will break forth 

 into a number of young growths ; and when these 

 are from one and a half to two inches in length, 

 they make excellent cuttings. If inserted in pans 

 of silver sand or light sandy soil, kept thoroughly 

 moist and placed in a brisk heat, the cuttings will 

 be rooted in a few days, and they should then be 

 potted singly into small pots, in a light compost made 

 up of silver sand, loam, and leaf-mould, be placed in , 



make excellent plants for green-house and con- 

 servatory decoration, lasting in bloom for a long 

 time. The dwarf er and more compact - growing 

 double varieties are well suited for this purpose. 

 In order to have a good supply of plants, growers 

 of Petunias for exhibition take some cuttings in 

 August or early in September, and about a dozen 

 of these are inserted in six-inch pots in good 

 light soil, then watered very gently, and kept close 

 in a frame and sha.ded for a week or so, and finally 

 removed to a warm green-house to be kept for 

 stock. In the early spring they put forth growths 

 more quickly than do older plants, and they can be 

 struck as indicated above. If extra strong specimen 



Petttnias, Single and Double, 



heat again to get started into growth, and then 

 removed to a cooler temperature to get hardened ofl: 

 a little, and finally placed in the green-house. In 

 order to make nice bushy plants of these, the main 

 shoot should be pinched out, and as soon as fresh 

 , shoots are formed, the plants should be shifted into 

 larger-sized pots. Never stop and re-pot at the same 

 time, is a rule of universal application in cases of 

 this kind. Those who have no heat, but desire to 

 strike a few cuttings, must take them later in the 

 season, when the wood is stouter and harder ; and if 

 these are inserted in pots of fine soil, and placed on 

 a warm shelf in a green-house, they will strike root. 

 If the pots of cuttings can be placed under a bell- 

 glass (which wiU need to be shaded from the sun) 

 they will strike ■ all the more readily, and when 

 rooted they should be potted off and grown on as 

 recommended above. 



We often observe in schedules of prizes at hor- 

 ticultural exhibitions, classes for specimen Petunias 

 grown in pots. In this fonn they are very hand- 

 some and attractive if well grown. And they also 



plants are wanted, the best of the autumn-struck 

 cuttings are selected, potted, and grown on during 

 the winter, well looked after, and on no account 

 allowed to become pot-bound. Thus a good start 

 is secured, and the plants go ahead with great 

 rapidity in early spring. To have fine exhibition 

 plants, take at the end of March spring cuttings 

 that have been stopped twice; the last time of 

 stopping at about the fourth or fifth joint. As soon 

 as they begin to break, they should be shifted into 

 five-inch pots, using a compost made up of one- 

 half good loam, one-quarter leaf-mould, and one- 

 quarter peat and sand. After this shift, and as soon 

 as they begin to grow, they will require a lower 

 temperature. The grower must keep stopping 

 according to the best of his judgment, tying out the 

 main branches so as to secure a good bottom to the 

 specimens and a, symmetrical shape. About the 

 first or second week in June the plants should be 

 stopped for the last time, pinching back every shoot, 

 and doing this so as to preserve the symmetrical 

 character of the specimen. The plants so treated 



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